Improved fire-alarm



R. POWERS.

Fire Alarm. I

No. 54,202. I Patented April 24, 1866.

' zf 66368 7 f/Zw y? 73 NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

RUFUS POWERS, OF PRESCOTT, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVED FIRE-ALARM.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 54,202, dated April 24,1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RUFUS POWERS, of Prescott, in the county ofHampshire, State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and usefulImproved Fire-Detecter and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the same, due reference being hadto the accompanying drawings.

The object of my invention is to detect or give notice of any fire orexcessive heat endangerin g property at the earliest moment practicable,whereby many disastrous fires may be prevented, and much valuableproperty saved.

To these ends its nature consists in placing in such places as may bebest certain connections which operate at a certain degree of heat, andconnecting them by wires or other suitable means to an alarm or otherapparatus to make their action known.

It is well known that many substances melt or become soft at variousdegrees of heat, and by selecting one that melts at that point'or degreebeyond which it is not deemed safe to go,

and so constructing my connections that when heated to that degree theyshall act and connect this action, or make it give warning, Iaccolnplishthe desired ends.

Figure 1 (see drawings) shows a side view of an embodiment of myinvention connected to an alarm-bell, and Fig. 2 shows a variation ofthe way of making the connections.

A A is a frame supporting the several parts. B is the bell; D, thehammer with its springs; O, the barrel with pins to operate the hammer 5O, the weight with cord winding on O 3 shown in Fig. 2'; or, it thoughtbest, the substance may be made into wire and thus carried to allexposed points.

The operation is evident. or softening of material used the wires part,and thus release the alarm or give notice of the heat.

I am aware that threads have been used to place in exposed places, sothat on being burnt off they shall give an alarm, and also that fusibleplugs have been used to indicate danger.

These I do not claim; but

What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The use of fastenings or connections for wires in fire-alarms, soconstructed with soft metal or other substance that they shall melt andrelease the wires or give the alarm upon being heated.

RUFUS POWERS.

Witnesses E. A. THOMAS, B. M. THOMAS.

On the melting

